Wednesday, January 20, 2016

Second Chance Pass

It took me awhile to get through this book, not because it did not appeal to me, it was another great installment in the Virgin River series, I just needed some down time and took it a bit slower.

I love how Robyn Carr uses the side characters of the previous books to create an entire story line for them. The familiar characters are still a focus, but the reader gets to see someone new in a different way. This time out, Paul and Vanni finally bring their attraction to each other to light. If you had not read the previous books, Vanni has recently given birth to her son Matty only months after her husband Matt was killed while serving in Iraq. She has asked Matt’s best friend Paul to help her through her final months of pregnancy and demanded that he stay for the birth. What Vanni did not know at the time was that Paul has been in love with her since the first time that he saw her; the only thing standing in his way was his best friend Matt, whom had gotten to her first.

Intertwined with their story are Mel and Jack and the harrowing birth of their second child. Preacher and Paige and the touching birth of their first child. Young men leaving for military service and college. Young women growing up and slightly older women finding a new chance at romance. Add to all of that, a wild fire that might reach town but not before it threatens the life of a much-loved character.

I am not a romance reader by nature so this series caught me by surprise. I cannot tell you if it is the sense of community and the very likable characters, or if it is something more. All I know is that the books hold my attention and in the back of my mind, I am always trying to figure out whom Robyn Carr will set as her new central characters of her next book.

Do not skip around; this is definitely a series that has to be read in order. Characters are slowly introduced and Robyn Carr does an excellent job in reminding her readers whom everyone, past and present, is. You will have to get used to the men being idealized and the women being just short of saint’s, but that is what romance reading is all about. You will roll your eyes from time to time with all the baby talk, but then again, the men consider it their jobs to be masters of fertility and their women are goddesses.